Big four day for Kiel

MSC Fantasia, one of four callers at Kiel this SaturdayPHOTO: Port of Kiel

Kiel is expecting four cruise ships on Saturday which are scheduled to be in port at the same time, in addition to the Baltic ferries of Color Line, Stena Line and DFDS.

AIDAvita, AIDAluna and MSC Fantasia are undertaking turnarounds after Norwegian itineraries while Zuiderdam, on a transit call, will berth on Saturday morning bringing a total of 23,000 passengers to the city.

Looking forward to the full day of activity, Dr. Dirk Claus, md of the port, said: ‘Along with all our partners - from agencies to Customs - we can guarantee that processing will be smooth.’

Around 2,000 passengers from the Holland America Line ship will be going ashore on a variety of excursions including visiting the local hills and lakes (known as Holstein Switzerland), the Hanse city of Lübeck and the seaside spa resort of Laboe. A range of tours to Hamburg are also on the programme.

This year ferry and cruise ship passengers are expected to generate spending in excess of about € 50m in the Schleswig-Holstein capital, remarked Claus.

Departing around 18.00 in the evening AIDAluna will sail for Copenhagen and AIDAvita will head for the British Isles and a first stop in Newcastle while Zuiderdam will leave its berth around 21:00 bound for Tallinn in Estonia.